LAKELAND, Fla. (March 11, 2005) - Florida Southern College has received a $50,000 grant from the Darden Restaurants Foundation for the Minority Scholars Program at the college. The scholarship funding will assist Florida Southern in providing additional support for its minority students. 

Students awarded scholarships from the Darden grant will receive assistance with tuition and fees. The funding also provides major assistance to the college in maintaining its goals for a diverse student population. Over the past 10 years Florida Southern has increased its minority recruiting and strengthened its minority retention efforts. As a result, the minority population has grown from four percent in 1994 to nearly 14 percent in 2003-04.

"This grant will transform the lives of those students receiving scholarships by providing them the opportunity to study in a smaller college environment that provides a supportive network of caring, committed faculty and administrators," said FSC president Dr. Anne Kerr. "We are most grateful to the Darden Restaurants Foundation for this generous grant." 

The Darden Restaurants Foundation is funded by Darden Restaurants, which owns and operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones restaurants. The foundation supports arts and culture, education, social services and nutrition, and preservation of natural resources.


About Florida Southern College
Founded in 1885, Florida Southern College is a private, comprehensive, United Methodist college with a liberal arts core. The college maintains its commitment to academic excellence through 38 undergraduate majors and distinctive graduate programs in business administration, education, and nursing. Florida Southern has a 14:1 student/faculty ratio, provides strong student/faculty mentorship programs, boasts 24 NCAA Division II national championships, and is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top ten Southern Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelors. Located on scenic Lake Hollingsworth, Florida Southern is the home of the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.